1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system for permitting a user of a touring bus to acquire a running route of the touring bus and the getting-on/off point on the running route, and a system for notifying the user of the arrival of the touring bus at a prescribed point on the running route.
2. Description of the Related Art
A touring bus (hereinafter referred to as simply “bus”) is served which permits the users of a kindergarten, school or assisting facility to get on or off at a prescribed point and periodically runs a predetermined route. A system has been proposed which notifies the bus users that the bus has arrived at a predetermined getting-on/off point.
Such a kind of conventional system as disclosed in JP-A-2002-334397 has been proposed. In the conventional technique, the bus equipped with a communication device having a point acquiring function transmits to a management center through a relay corporation when the bus has entered a predetermined area in the vicinity of a getting on/off point. On the basis of the latitude/longitude thus transmitted, the management center transmits, through internet, to the communication terminal of the bus user the message on the time when the bus will arrive at the predetermined getting on/off point.
In such a system, in order that user receives the above message from the management center, the user first acquires the information on the running route from a bus service corporation or the management center, and thereafter, communicates his desired getting-on/off point on the running route to the management center. The person in charge in the management center performs various kinds of settings for transmitting the message for a server installed in the management center (see JP-A-2002-334397 (FIG. 8)).
Meanwhile, in the touring bus service as described above, frequently, the user or destination is changed. Correspondingly, the touring route or getting-on/off point is changed. In such a case, in the above conventional system, the bus service corporation first communicates to the management center the newest route including the newest getting on/off point information, and thereafter communicates it to the user. Next, referring to the newest route, the user communicates his desired point to the management center. The person in charge in the management center performs various settings such as getting-on/off points again.
Therefore, the above conventional system presents a problem that when any change is made on the running route or when the user wants to confirm the running route, the user cannot obtain the information on the newest running route at once. The above conventional system also presents a problem that when the getting-on/off point on the running route is changed, the person in charge in the management center must perform troublesome resetting operations. The users of the touring bus service include old men/women, physically handicapped persons, kindergarten children, etc. so that there are large individual differences in the time taken for the users to go from their home to the getting on/off point. Therefore, in the above conventional system in which the message is transmitted when the bus enters the area fixed in the vicinity of the getting-on/off point, the user may miss the bus or otherwise the bus must wait for the user.